Manila once again
doubles for Southern California in Hostage Syndrome, a slick,
not-terrible export and nearly all-white goonfest from the final
glory days of Cinex Films producers Conrad “Boy” Puzon and Pio C.
Lee. German-born Robert Marius is outstanding as insane would-be
Russian Czar Vladimir Dmilrievich, throwing three scientists and
their families into his yacht’s dungeon to work on a Super Steroid
serum to transform his prize fighter Andrei (first film role for
Australian-born Costas Mandylor) into a seemingly unstoppable
eye-rolling, bone-snapping killing machine. FBI agent Hunter
(co-writer David Brass, feeding himself the best lines) and his curvy
big-haired assistant Joyce (Carolyn Hudson) set up a prize fight
using troubled ex-cop, crack shot and surfer lookalike Grant Vincent
(Brad Zutaut from Back To School and Hardbodies 2) as ringbait.
Naturally Grant doesn’t care for money or duty, and manages to
resist the charms of Joyce and her petulant sister Jean (Karen
Lundeen), until his coked-up brother is found floating next to
Vladimir’s boat. Suggestions of Rocky IV and Chuck Norris’ Silent
Rage abound, with Marius attempting an Ivan The Terrible but instead
ends up channeling Udo Kier in Flesh For Frankenstein, and no more so
than in his exquisitely over-the-top death scene; an uncredited Nick
Nicholson pops up for a memorable moment, as he does in other Cinex
projects, as a barfly drug dealer – “I call you SHIT until you
give me some cash!” – and underscores the fact these Puzon/Lee
cheapies really were decent, goofy fun.

No comments:

HERR LEAVOLD

Andrew Leavold owned and managed Trash Video, the largest cult video rental store in Australia, from 1995 to 2010. He is also a film-maker, published author, researcher, film festival curator, musician, and above all, unrepentant and voracious fan of the pulpier aspects of genre cinema. His writing has been published globally in mainstream magazines, academic journals and underground cinema fanzines, for the last two decades.

Leavold toured the world with his feature length documentary The Search For Weng Weng (2013). His ten years of research on genre filmmaking in the Philippines formed the basis of Mark Hartley's documentary Machete Maidens Unleashed! (released internationally in 2010), on which Leavold is also Associate Producer, and he has since been recognized both in the Philippines and abroad as the foremost authority in his area of expertise, teaching Philippine film history at university level in Australia, the United States, and throughout the Philippines. Leavold teamed with Daniel Palisa to co-direct The Last Pinoy Action King (2015), both a feature-length documentary on the late Filipino action idol Rudy Fernandez, and a dissection of film royalty, politics, privilege, idolatry, and the Philippines’ pyramid of power.

He is currently shooting two new feature-length documentaries – The Most Beautiful Creatures On The Skin Of The Earth (also with Palisa), the third in his Filipino trilogy, about erotic cinema under Marcos; and Pub, a history of the vibrant St Kilda music scene as told through its most outrageous progeny, Fred Negro. Both films are due for release in 2018.